No charges in PCH crash that killed Nobu Malibu chef
Deputies say the 16-year-old driver who struck a parked car on PCH, killing sushi chef Ryo Uchimiya as he slept inside, was not impaired.
By Hans Laetz
LA County sheriff's deputies say the fatal crash that killed a Nobu Malibu chef was an accident, and no charges will be filed. 51-year-old sushi chef Ryo Uchimiya was killed as he slept in the back seat of his car, which was parked legally a few hundred feet east of the Nobu restaurant where he worked. The crash happened Saturday, Oct. 4.
The driver, a 16-year-old boy, has not been named publicly because of his age.
Sheriff's spokesman Sergeant Chris Soderlund told the City Council on Monday that a preliminary investigation found the juvenile was driving a gray Range Rover SUV eastbound on PCH in the number 2 lane when the vehicle struck the parked car on the eastbound shoulder. The occupant was pronounced dead at the scene. There were no signs the driver was under the influence. The cause remains under investigation.
Uchimiya leaves a widow, Eiko Uchimiya, and two infants. A GoFundMe has been set up — a link is on our website at malibu.fm.
The fatal crash happened at sunrise the morning after a concentrated speed enforcement operation wrapped up on PCH. Soderlund said deputies were out on motorcycles at night — a rare deployment because of the heightened danger — trying to catch racers coming off the canyon roads. Near PCH and Big Rock, deputies clocked a car doing 92 mph at 8:37 p.m. The driver was arrested, but the car was not impounded. Under California law, 92 mph is not by itself enough to prove reckless driving, which is required to impound a vehicle.